Chapter 5: Buggy and Cabaji

Hello and welcome to another chapter of Coby's Choice! Here we have the completion of the fight with Buggy the Clown and the first big fight(s) of this story. If you've read my first A/N, than you should know that I have through Enies Lobby written, so I've done several more fight scenes since I wrote this one, but, while these are very short in comparison to most of the others, I still think it's not too shabby. Why don't y'all tell me what you think?

Also, I just got out of back-to-back tests, and, while I feel good about Physics, Calculus is another matter. So, new chapter because I feel like it!

Chapter 5:

Cabaji the Acrobat and Buggy the Clown

Recap

The captain's extended arm latched onto the beast tamer's shirt collar and dragged him back, much to Nami's surprise. Luffy and Zoro began to violently beat the crap out of the Buggy pirate for threatening Coby.

"What the Hell was that?" Nami demanded, shaking the raven-haired teen. "People aren't supposed to stretch!"

"Our idiot captain ate some weird fruit when he was younger that turned his body into rubber."

"Thank you!" Mayor Boodle cried, running over from where he'd been whacking Mohji with a piece of wood. "Thank you so much!"

After thanking the quartet, Mayor Boodle had taken off toward the bar where Buggy had set up his base, filled with courage (read stupidity) at the strength shown by Luffy and Zoro. The others had followed after tying up Mohji and Ritchie, knowing that the old man would die if he tried to take on the Buggy Pirates alone.

"Buggy!" Boodle shouted as he approached his destination, attracting the attention of the people on the roof of the bar. "I cannot stand around and watch you destroy this village anymore! Come out and fight me!"

"Bwahahaha! Look at this! An old man thinks he can take me on!" The Chop-Chop man's right hand shot out, latching on to the mayor's throat and lifting him up from the ground. The surviving crew laughed at the old man's futile struggles until their captain cried out in shock. Now standing between them and Boodle was Luffy with Buggy's hand in his grip.

"Sorry, Big Nose, but I like this guy, so I'm not going to let you kill him."

"Who you calling Big Nose?!"

"Uh, you," Luffy stated as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"That's so rude!" Buggy exclaimed. "Wait, where's Mohji? I sent him to kill you all."

"And you were just complaining about our manners?" Zoro sassed. "I'm pretty sure that's ironic coming from you."

"We left him and his lion tied up where they attacked us," Nami answered, acting like she had done more than just watch.

"And now we're here to kick your ass!" Luffy declared.

Buggy looked at them in disbelief. They thought five people including an old man and a child could have a prayer in Hell of defeating him and his crew? He'd show them.

"No!" Boodle shouted. "This fight is mine!" In response to this, Luffy punched Mayor Boodle in the back of the head, knocking him into a wall and causing him to lose consciousness.

"What the Hell did you do that for?!" Nami screamed.

"Actually," Zoro grunted, "that's for the best. If he fought, he'd probably die."

"It won't matter," Buggy butted in, "because all of you will die anyway! Men, fire the Buggy Ball!" There was the now-familiar sound of a cannon firing as a red ball of death raced toward the small group.

"I've got this," Luffy declared as the bomb drew closer. "Gum-Gum balloon!" The teen's body expanded and would have scared Nami had she not forced an explanation out of him after the fight with Mohji. His inflated stomach caught the cannonball, slowing it to a stop before launching it back at the rooftop. Pirates screamed, two of them diving off the side of the building to avoid the subsequent explosion. These two were Buggy the Clown and Cabaji the Acrobat.

"You Straw Hat bastard!" Buggy roared. "Look at what you've done to my crew!"

"Look at what you've done to this town," Luffy retorted.

"Wait. Why does that straw hat look familiar?" Buggy asked himself. "It reminds me of that Red Hair bastard."

"Red Hair? Oh! You mean Shanks! Yeah, he gave me his hat."

"I hate him and anyone associated with him! Prepare to die, Straw Hat! Cabaji, get Roranoa!"

"But captain," Cabaji protested. "Wouldn't it be better if I took on Straw Hat and you took Roranoa?"

"Shut up and do as I say. I will kill this little brat personally."

Cabaji silently accepted his orders and hopped on his unicycle, pulling a sword from his mouth in the process. "Roranoa Zoro. Prepare to die."

"A fellow swordsman, eh? Let's go."

Zoro vs Cabaji

The Acrobat sped forward on his unicycle, a very fearsome way to charge into battle indeed. Despite this, Zoro was unfazed, placing his white-hilted sword into his mouth. The two clashed as their swords sparked. Zoro's black eyes met Cabaji's, both refusing to waver or give an inch. They were locked in this stalemate until Cabaji called out his next attack.

"Take this! Fire breath!" He blew a plume of fire from his mouth, giving Zoro some light burns and searing away parts of his ruined shirt. The Buggy pirate peddled away as Zoro recollected himself, the Buggy pirate speeding up the side of a building before taking to the air.

"Festival of a Thousand Deadly Tops!" From his jacket, the dark-haired man released a multitude of spinning tops that flew toward Zoro.

"Streaming Wolf Swords!" the Pirate Hunter countered, his blades flashing up to cut the first several tops down with an almost bored expression. If he had been injured, stabbed for example, it may have been much harder. "How many damn tops do you have?" Zoro demanded, cutting though another top as he leaned out of the way of a trio that were aimed at his head. There was a streadily growing pile of tops building up behind him. Even so, Cabaji continued to fling the spinning progectiles at the green-haired man.

"Like I'd tell you!" Cabaji retorted, landing and peddling forward. Binging his sword up as he approached, the acrobat swung downward to cleave the former bounty hunter in two.

"Not good enough," Zoro taunted through his sword, deflecting each of his opponent's slashes. "you can't beat me."

"We'll see about that!" Angered, the long-haired man sped up his attacks, his swords seeming to blur. Zoro smirked, his own weapons speeding up in response. Cabaji grit his teeth, both swordsmen locking their swords in a show of strength before separating, the one on a unicycle flying comfortably through the air.

"Is that the best you've got?" Zoro remarked, enjoying the look of rage that covered his foe's face at the jab. "I thought I was fighting a swordsman, not some two-bit sideshow."

Cabaji landed with an ease that spoke of years of practice and charged the green-haired man with a battle call. Zoro took a stance, placing two of his swords perpendicular to his third and held behind it.

"DEMON SLASH!" The cyclist fell off his one-wheeled mode of transportation behind the famous pirate hunter, a look of complete shock on his face and three deep cuts in his chest.

"I... can't believe... the Buggy Pirates... were defeated by... such trash."

"We're not trash," Zoro told him firmly. "We're pirates."

K.O.

Zoro vs. Cabaji

Winner: Zoro

Meanwhile…

Luffy vs. Buggy

"Now, while Cabaji takes care of Roranoa, I'll have fun killing you slowly!"

"You're annoying," Luffy stated. "Shut up."

"Don't you talk down on me!" Using a slight of hand, Buggy produced four knifes in each hand. "Chop-Chop Cannon!" His hands shot forward, blades aimed to kill. Coby cried out for his captain, only for the teen to roundhouse kick both hands as they drew closer. His opponent cringed, the pain transferred to him.

Seeing all the pirates either unconscious or preoccupied, Nami grabbed Coby and snuck off to look for Buggy's treasure. Neither of the dueling captains or swordsmen seemed to notice their disappearance. The clown-themed pirate separated his torso from his legs and launched his upper body forward, reconnecting his hands in the process.

"Die, Straw Hat!" Buggy roared, bringing a fists full of knifes down on the younger pirate.

"You say that a lot," Luffy responded, sidestepping the attack. He threw out his hand, grabbing Buggy's face. While the man was surprised, Luffy wrapped his other arm around his first and latched onto a handful of the man's blue hair. "Gum-Gum Hammer!" Buggy's head came off, spinning faster than Cabaji's tops due to the unwinding of the rubber-man's arms before coming to a sudden stop a few inches below where the road had been before. Luffy took a moment to see what he'd done.

"Oh no! I killed him!" Luffy wailed.

"I'm not dead, you Straw Hat bastard!" Buggy's head yelled, floating up from the small crater Luffy had made with it. His headless body connected to his lower half and started moving, slashing at the stretchy human. The two duked it out with hand-to-hand combat until Buggy threw an uppercut. Luffy shifted backwards, but his hat was cut with the blade and fell off his head, shocking the teen.

"My hat," Luffy muttered in a much-too-calm voice, bending down to lift the headwear. "You cut my hat. I'm going to kill you, Bastard! Gum-Gum Gatling!" His arms shot out quickly, hitting Buggy hard enough to send whatever part of his body they came in contact with flying. Finally, one fist hit Buggy's face, causing it to tumble into the pile of parts several dozen feet away. The only things spared were the clown's feet.

The clown captain put himself back together while sporting multiple bruises including a very prominent one on the right side of his face. Buggy pulled out eight more knifes and flung his upper body at his foe. Luffy responded like he had at the start of the fight, kicking him as he passed.

Buggy's upper half rose into the air again, but his eyes locked onto something behind Luffy. With a cry of "give me back my treasure, you bitch!", Buggy forgot about the annoyingly-strong Devil Fruit user he was fighting and charged Nami and Coby who were sneaking toward the port.

"Crap, he saw us," Nami breathed, the larger of two bags on her back.

Coby was more vocal, dropping his smaller bag in fear. "He's going to kill us!" Suddenly, Buggy froze, a look of excruciating pain on his face. Behind him, Luffy had taken the chance to kick Buggy between the legs for getting distracted. Luffy threw Buggy's lower body at his upper parts where he reconnected out of instinct.

"Hey Buggy!" Luffy yelled, stretching both of his arms behind him. "This is for the old guy and his treasure! Gum-Gum Bazooka!" One second Buggy was there, the next the clown's screams were echoing through the air as body faded from sight.

K.O.

Luffy vs. Buggy

Winner: Luffy

"That was awesome, Captain Luffy!" Coby ran over to the teen as a barely-winded Zoro wandered over. The three laughed together before leaving, Nami following behind and awed by their display of power. Despite this, she was still sure to have Coby grab the other bag of loot as they made their exit.

Unbeknownst to them, the townspeople had seen most of the fight and were now praising their courage…

Reaching the docks, the quartet found their respective boats tied up next to each other, the three men that Nami had conned and that Zoro had beaten up lying unconscious on the ground. Nami's boat, the one she had taken from the unconscious men, was slightly bigger than the one Zoro and Coby had arrived in and had an additional one-person cabin and a black flag emblazoned with the symbol of the Buggy Pirates. The girl ordered the three men to tie the boats together while she loaded the gold they had taken from Buggy into the cabin.

"Thank you!" someone shouted, causing the three males to turn their heads. A group of the younger townspeople were running towards them with a bag hefted between them. "Thank you for saving our town!"

"What's in the bag?" Luffy asked, purposely ignoring the thanks he was receiving; he didn't want to be a hero. Heroes shared the meat!

"Food for your trip," Boodle answered, staggering over with the help of some middle-aged men. It appeared Luffy's punch had done a little more than just knock him out. "Please, take it."

"Don't mind if I do," Luffy smiled, taking the bag. Zoro and Coby snatched it from him before he could stuff the whole thing in his mouth, something he was likely to do if the look in his eye was any indicator. Pouting slightly at being denied his "snack", The three men pushed off from the dock and began sailing away toward their group's next adventure.

End of Chapter 5

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-SwordOfTheGods